Medical Students Association Blames Resort For Boat Mishap
On the heels of Saturday’s boat mishap at the Marina Resort, Calabar, Cross River State, where three medical students attending their Health Week in Calabar are reportedly missing while 11 were rescued when the boat they joined for a cruise on the Calabar river capsized, the Cross River State Government has with immediate effect shut down boat cruise operations and other activities at the resort.
Emmanuel Ogbeche, Chief Press Secretary to the CRS governor, Bassey Otu, in a written statement, said the resort as well as activities there will remain shut till further notice. He further stated that the cruise boat operators and management of the CRS Tourism Bureau, have been summoned to a meeting with government on Tuesday, June 27th, 2023, in the office of the Secretary to the State Government.
Additionally, the State Ministry of Transport has been immediately directed to cross check safety standards and condition of all boats operating in the Calabar waterways.
Meanwhile, Ejim Clement Egba, National President of the Nigerian Medical Students Association, has insisted that, the management of the resort takes entire blame for the mishap.
Speaking with journalists at the resort, he said, “this ugly, avoidable and extremely traumatizing incident causing so much anguish to the medical students’ community nationwide was as a result of negligence, incompetence and the lackadaisical attitude of the crew members and the management of Marina Resort.”
He revealed that the engine of the boat had gone off, and water started to enter the boat at a rapid speed, causing it to capsize. Life vests given to the occupants of the cruise boat, he also said appear not to have been in good working conditions, aggravating the enormity of the mishap and insisted that those found culpable must be prosecuted for the national grief visited on the medical community in Nigeria.
The students had converged on the ancient coastal state capital, for the annual NIMSA Health Week when the boat cruise which was suppose to be a social activity went wrong.
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